DAY SEVEN of RURAL ILLINOIS 2012

The last day of any trip is always bittersweet. The dread of the long car ride, the return to work, leaving family yet again. But there is the promise of sleeping in your own bed, reuniting with the dog and seeing if you got anything good in the mail.

Our last day in Illinois was spent almost entirely at the fairgrounds.

First were several running races, including one in memory to my grandfather.

And in between the posts were novelty races, like Shetland ponies and mules.

Saturday was also the Cumberland Derby, part of the National Road Triple Crown. It is one of the few county fair derbies still in existence. This year, people we asked to wear derby hats. Ribbons and prizes were given to the best.

My cousin Rachael won. Of course.

The races ended late afternoon. We went up to Cameo Vineyards for a bit before returning to the fairgrounds for the Demolition Derby.

The “opener” was the barnyard scramble where people and goats are put in a pen and let loose. If you can grab a piece of tape off the goat’s back, you win!

Even the Fair Queen joined in!

As the sunset, it was time to bring on the cars for smashing up.

As a “bonus”, there was a combine derby. It looked like a couple of rural Transformers going at it.

So after about 3 hours of inhaling fumes and withstanding deafening noise, a new Cumberland County Demo Derby champion was crowned.

It was so hard going to bed that night, knowing that we had to get up in the wee hours and hit the road. It was a wonderful week (as always) in rural Illinois.